A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower (51 page)

4.5   War and Politics

When internal issues become troublesome it is often helpful to switch the focus to external ones. The threat of attempted colonisation by the western powers had largely but not entirely passed by the 1890s. The powers were still actively expanding on the Asian mainland, and there was still a popular saying that Korea was ‘a dagger pointed at Japan’s heart’ – a dagger for western use, not Korean.

The Japanese government had not approved Saig
’s proposal of 1873 to invade Korea, but it had maintained a strong interest there. By using the same ‘gunboat diplomacy’ the west had used against Japan itself, it had obtained its own ‘unequal treaty’ in the form of the Kangwha Treaty of 1876. This gave it trade privileges and the right of extraterritoriality. Japan had since involved itself in Korean politics, including an attempted coup in 1884. It was particularly heading for a showdown with China, which also had interests in Korea.

Following a time-honoured tradition Japan preferred to avoid confrontation with a stronger power if at all possible. However, it did not see late-nineteenth-century China, weakened by fragmentation and western interference, as a stronger power. In fact, Japan seems to have been spoiling for a war with China over Korea.
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In spring 1894 the Korean king called for military aid from China to put down a rebellion led by a powerful religious sect. China duly sent troops. So did Japan. Though the rebellion was soon quelled both parties refused to withdraw their troops. The Japanese seemed determined to fight and in July initiated military action against China by sinking a ship carrying Chinese troops. Japan officially declared war later, on 1 August. The Sino-Japanese War had begun.

In the engagements that followed, Japan proved superior both on land and sea, but the most decisive element was its superiority in naval tactics, which were modelled on the British. The Chinese fleet was severely crippled at the mouth of the Yalu River in September, the naval base of Port Arthur in South Manchuria was seized in November, and the Chinese fleet was finally destroyed at Weihaiwei in February 1895.

In the ensuing Treaty of Shimonoseki of April 1895, China had to pay a huge indemnity, abandon its official interests in Korea, and cede territory to Japan including Taiwan and the Liaotung/Kwantung (Liaodong/Guandong) Peninsula in southern Manchuria.

This was the first major step in Japan’s empire-building in Asia, and the western powers took note. Russia in particular, which had its own designs on Korea and Manchuria, acted very quickly. Less than a week after the Treaty of Shimonoseki it persuaded Germany and France to join it in advising Japan, in the Tripartite Intervention, to renounce the Liaotung Peninsula on the grounds that not to do so would cause instability in the area. Anxious to retain the goodwill of the western powers the Japanese government followed this advice, much to the displeasure of the Japanese public.

This displeasure soon turned to outright indignation when, just a few years later in 1898, the same three western powers started dividing up parts of China among themselves. There was particular bitterness towards Russia, which obtained, under a 25-year lease, the very same Liaotung Peninsula it had obliged Japan to give up.

By this stage, through its political reforms and victory over China, Japan had succeeded in earning the respect of western nations. It had also succeeded in getting the unequal treaties at least partly revised. Just weeks before the Sino-Japanese War Britain had agreed to relinquish its right to extraterritoriality, and had partially restored Japan’s tariff autonomy. The other major nations followed suit by 1897, though full restoration of tariff control did not come till 1911.

However, victory in the Sino-Japanese War and success with treaty revision did not bring the hoped-for degree of stability to the political situation in Japan. In some regards it worsened as a result of the Liaotung Peninsula affair, which earned severe criticism for Japan’s leaders.

The political arena degenerated into a merry-go-round.
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Parties formed, disbanded, re-formed, changed names, re-adopted former names, or deliberately took the names of other parties and prefixed their own version with the term ‘Real’ or ‘True’. Politicians regularly changed parties and/or allegiances (the two not always going together). Resignations and returns to office were commonplace. Between mid-1896 and mid-1901 the premiership changed seven times, three times due to It
Hirobumi’s resignations from that office.

One major development was that It
managed to form his new political party in 1900, a government party under the name
Rikken Seiy
kai
(Association of Friends of Constitutional Government). However, he still incurred the displeasure of stauncher conservatives such as Yamagata, and his fourth resignation from the premiership in May 1901 was to be his final one. He was weary of politics, though he remained
Seiy
kai
president till 1903. His party was to remain an effective force till just before the Second World War.

After It
’s resignation in 1901 Yamagata was again offered the position, but he too had already been prime minister more than once and he too was weary of it. Instead, the position went to his protégé, Katsura Tar
(1847–1913). Though born into a Ch
sh
samurai family, and only a few years younger than It
or Yamagata, Katsura was usually considered a ‘second generation’ man. The age of the oligarchs, or
genr
(‘original elder’) was passing.
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